AN ALCHEMICAL COMPILATION OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, AT). 
73 
(c) “He (Apollonius) also says: f In 'Bodies’ the strength of the Alif 
grasps the Jim, and thus the Jim becomes a Male Power, and the 
spirit of the Jim rejoices in the Dal, and so the Dal becomes a spiri- 
tual body.’ 1 
“ He means by all this that the Work is from a single f Stone,’ and that the 
several constituents are derived from it. In ' the Male ’ there are three combinations, 
which is actually the case, the first being the combination of the Water and the 
Tincture, the second the combination of the Air and the Earth, and the third the 
combination of both Water and Tincture, with the Oil and the disaggregated ( mahlul ) 
Body. These are therefore three combinations.’’ 
The value of the Shawahid for the study of the origins of chemistry can hardly 
be over-estimated. It may be summed up by the same phrase as has been applied 
by Eeclerc to the Hawl, a similar compilation made by Ar-Razi for the science of 
medicine. Both are rightly defined as ‘ precious mosaics. ’ 
The conclusion of the book is as follows : “ We have now mentioned as many 
of the principal Mystical Sayings as are sufficient to demonstrate what we set out to 
prove, and having attained our object, let our book come to an end. And God- 
Glory be to Him !— is all-deserving of praise. Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, 
and His blessings and eternal peace on the best of created beings, Muhammad, and 
on his pure family ! Here ends the Kitabu-r-Rumuz. 
XII. The Chapter ascribed to the King of the Greeks, on the fixation of 
Yellow Fire, which is yellow Sulphur. 2 (Folio 92 v., 1 . 15, to f. 93 r., 1 . 16). 
A solution of calcium and sodium arseno-sulphides is successively mixed with 
sulphur, urine of children, 3 white of egg, colocynth, and water of sal-ammoniac. 
The resulting product, “ a beautiful white disc, which is unaffected by fire,” is so 
potent that if one dirham be thrown on a rati of freshly prepared mercury, it turns it 
into refined silver. 
XIII. The Kitabu 4 -Madkhali-t-Ta‘limi (Elementary Introduction), another of 
the lost alchemical works of Ar-Razi (Folio 93 r., 1 . 17, to f. 97 v. y bottom). It appears 
in the Fihrist, as well as in the list given at the end of the treatise itself, as the first of 
an encyclopaedia of 12 books on Alchemy written by the author. The treatise is in 
fact a complete introduction to the Art, all the substances and apparatus employed 
in alchemy being briefly described, while further interest attaches to its discovery 
from the fact that it appears (with perhaps the missing second volume of the encyclo- 
1 Cf. Ibn Khaldun, Prolegomena, De Slane’s trails., Ill, p. 189 (Section on ' Les propri&tes occultes des lettres de 
V alphabet' ) , where it is stated that the Sufis believe in the following equivalence and arrange all the letters under one 
or other of these 4 letters. Alif=Pite, Jim= Water, S«r=Air, and D«f=Earth. 
1 Cf. infva (Ta'widhii-l-Hdkim), p. 79 ; and supra, p. 65, 'n 6). The three Emperors of the Greeks referred to in the 
St. Mark’s MS. as being interested in alchemy are Heraclius (610 — 641 A.D.), Justinian (I, 527 — 565 ; II, 658 — 71 1 A.D.), 
and Theodosius (II, 408 — 450 ; III, 716 — 717 A.D). The title suggests a reference to the Liber Ignium of Marcus 
Graecus, described by Berthelot in Chapter V, Vol. I, of his La Chemie, but no such prescription is to be found 
in this mediaeval work. 
3 For this, cf. B., Arch, et Hist, des Sciences, p. 301, note (1). 
